Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Manhattan hotels like to play it safe and pricey. They sell $40 veal chops and $15 cocktails. The menus are standard-issue expensive for expense account patrons. Then there's Six Columbus, a boutique hotel whose restaurant serves $7 jellyfish and life-changing fried chicken.

Is this KFC gone wild?

No, it's Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar & Grill. Two nights after opening, the place was packed at 10 p.m.

This is all par for the course at the New York chain. It's the third Blue Ribbon Sushi. There's also Blue Ribbon Brasserie (two of them), Blue Ribbon Bakery, Blue Ribbon Market and Blue Ribbon Bar.

Welcome to a franchise for tastemakers. The venues are famous as post-shift hangouts for the restaurant industry -- some Blue Ribbons stay open till 4 a.m. Chefs and waiters come late and come hungry. Strong flavors wake them up. Hearty platters lull them to sleep -- a happy gastronomic coma.

The Columbus Circle eatery is one part sushi bar, one part brasserie. Try surf and turf for experts: Pair Blue Ribbon's famous bone marrow with raw fluke. Don't like either? Don't worry. There's steak and lobster too -- and then some. I counted 168 menu choices -- not including specials.

Here's how to navigate. Cheap dishes are small. Expensive dishes are large. Sit anywhere except the back room -- the tiny corridor amplifies sound and makes it hard to hear.

Angry Eyes

Order sushi. Elsewhere, that's usually a sure-fire way to leave starving. Not here. A chef's selection ($75) included five pieces of raw fish over rice, a roll and 24 slices of succulent sashimi.

Baby sea eels (they look like spaghetti) prime your palate. Luscious toro rolls sate your appetite; a thin layer of rice surrounds giant mounds of fat-oozing tuna belly.

How about a whole uncooked fish? My omakase came with an entire raw sea bream, carved into melt-in-your mouth slices. The fish head stared at me.

Warning: This is industrial sushi. Gurus prefer one piece at a time, to ensure cool fish over warm rice. The Blue Ribbon chefs refused to accommodate a piece-by-piece request. The immaculate fish is crammed onto your plate all at once, with little or no seasoning.

What does jellyfish taste like? Whatever it swims with. Here, it gets vinegar, cucumber and lemon. The creature jiggles like Jell-O but snaps like soba.

Try the fishy yellowtail cheeks. The odor keeps novices at bay. The grilled flesh is fresh, fatty and salty; it's a juicy cut that chefs like to save for themselves.

And the chicken -- oh, the fried chicken! The orange-hued crust flakes like tempura. It's salty and spicy. Moist meat lies underneath. Dip in honey wasabi. It sweetly clears your sinuses.

Dinner for two -- four small plates plus fried chicken and two desserts -- cost $136.

Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar & Grill is at 308 W. 58th St., near Eighth Avenue, Manhattan. Information: +1-212-397-0404.

Royal Rip-Off

Boring restaurants happen to exciting people. Such is the early fate of Brasserie 44 and its owner, John McDonald.

(The $15 cocktails and $42 veal chop don't help.)

McDonald is due for a snoozer. He's already brought us so much fun. This is the guy who launched Lever House -- the (formerly) Michelin-starred scene to be seen for power-lunchers.

Then he gave us Lure Fishbar -- where the Soho sashimi set mingle over sparkling slices of raw fish. His next project was Chinatown Brasserie -- home to Joe Ng's ethereal dumplings.

Brasserie 44 feels like a hotel restaurant for hotel guests. It's a tan, windowless space stuck into the rear of the Royalton lobby. Techno beats and bass from the lounge gently vibrate through your soft banquette.

Average American

The food tastes fine at this week-old venue. Chef Scott Ekstrom is no beginner; he hails from Daniel and Oceana. But where's the ambition from an ambitious chef? His modern American menu leaves the following impressions: average and expensive.

Creamy chestnut soup is no better or worse than anywhere else. It's certainly more expensive at $16. A $22 salad included half of the tiniest lobster I've ever encountered. The black bass ($28) is a better deal; white flesh happily soaks up an intense dashi.

There was nothing wrong with the tart -- heady goat cheese, sweet onions and flaky pastry -- except its price: $16.

The veal chop was moist and meaty. But does $42 justify six bites? I finished it in 4 minutes flat.

Only one dish I tried stood out: tender hamachi interspersed with cubes of blood orange gelee -- a fresh take on a tired tartare.

I couldn't taste any liver in my foie gras-stuffed skate. Maybe that's what the 20 percent opening week discount was for. Here's some advice for 44: Apply the discount permanently or make the veal chop bigger.

Dinner for two cost $154. Dinner for one cost $63.

Brasserie 44 is at 44 W. 44th St., Manhattan. Information: +1-212-944-8844.

(Ryan Sutton is a writer for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer of this story: Ryan Sutton in New York at rsutton1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 6, 2007 00:02 EST